Hobbit Movie News and Rumors | TheOneRing.net™ » Hobbit Moviehttp://www.theonering.net/torwp
Forged by and for fans of J.R.R. TolkienTue, 31 Mar 2015 18:16:58 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1DVD woes with The Battle of the Five Armieshttp://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/28/97619-dvd-woes-with-the-battle-of-the-five-armies/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/28/97619-dvd-woes-with-the-battle-of-the-five-armies/#commentsSat, 28 Mar 2015 17:57:00 +0000http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=97619Are you one of those who FINALLY got your copy of TBotFA on DVD only to have a colourless-faded-blotchy or muddied mess? There are some who have had that problem and are discussing it on The Hobbit Discussion Board right here.

I received my copy from Amazon on Friday (March27), and it was in perfect shape. The sound, the colour and detail were as good as I experienced at the theatre. We have not heard of any like-problems with the Blu-ray format.

If you know there’s no problem with your DVD player, then you’re one of the unfortunates to receive a bad copy. Your only recourse is to take it back to the store and get an exchange for a new copy. Most retailers will not refund the cost of your DVD if the package has been opened, but they will exchange for the same item. If you received your copy via online sales (i.e. Amazon), contact them and they’ll arrange a replacement for you.

One of TORn’s knowledgeable Wizards has experience with why bad DVD copies occur. A video quality issue like this doesn’t usually happen on the replication end. Most likely there was a video encoding error on the original master that didn’t get caught until the first run of discs was done. A fix was made and given to the replicator as a “running change,” which means that all discs going forward would be made with the corrected master. Most retailers will return that bad run of discs without them hitting shelves. But for some reason, a few of the bad discs tend to slip through the cracks and go out to consumers.

]]>http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/28/97619-dvd-woes-with-the-battle-of-the-five-armies/feed/0Middle-earth March Madness – The Sweet Sixteen! Vote in Round 3 Right Now!http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/26/97608-middle-earth-march-madness-the-elite-eight-vote-in-round-3-right-now/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/26/97608-middle-earth-march-madness-the-elite-eight-vote-in-round-3-right-now/#commentsFri, 27 Mar 2015 03:06:53 +0000http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=97608We are down to the Sweet Sixteen as the chase to crown the 2015 Middle-earth March Madness champion continues!

Look for special analysis of the match-ups in this round coming soon!

But what about you? Have any strong opinions about this round? Send us a report and it just may make it to the homepage of TheOneRing.net! Email spymaster@theonering.net with your display name and a small bio, and article.

]]>http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/26/97608-middle-earth-march-madness-the-elite-eight-vote-in-round-3-right-now/feed/0The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies home video released TODAY!http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/24/97593-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-home-video-released-today/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/24/97593-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-home-video-released-today/#commentsTue, 24 Mar 2015 17:55:42 +0000http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=97593To celebrate the release today (in some countries) of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – or perhaps to give some consolation to those who have to wait to bring home their DVD! – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment have made some cute infographics. In addition to the EXCLUSIVE one we shared yesterday, here’s a little clarity for anyone still wondering just exactly which creatures are in those five armies:

And here’s a overview of all three movies, now available as a box set:

It has been weeks now and this isn’t news. I have felt the loss personally and thought about the loss for so many.

Melissa Theresa Petrey Kern, 42, is gone. In her real traditional obituary, it says she was of Lawrenceville, Georgia. Respectfully, I disagree, or I want to state on the record, that while that may be true, it isn’t the whole truth.

More of the truth would say that Melissa Theresa Petrey Kern, 42, a notable figure in the Tolkien Community, died March 8, 2015, after a long battle with ALS. She lived among us, the fan community, and was our neighbor and shared her life with us and is missed by us, as she is missed in Lawrenceville. You could write about more places she lived and is missed too.

I remember, fortunately a few conversations we shared that didn’t seem especially significant at the time, but feel pretty lucky now. We talked about an artist that visited Georgia. We talked about the Tolkien Community in Atlanta. We even talked about specific people she wanted good things for. We talked about fandom, that included her own early love for the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. We shared some moments and I value them, as part of the beautiful experience of our community and they are just a tiny sample of many such moments she shared with many people.

More memorable than the things she said were the people she influenced. The Georgia costuming community, I think it is fair to say, wouldn’t have been so organized or so unified if not for Mel. The Arms of Middle-earth might not have existed at all without Mel, but I don’t pretend to know the reality of that claim. We can safely and accurately say, she was at the heart of the community.

There is a photo, I am sure dozens of people have it, where a significant number of Tolkien costumers were all gathered together in an impressive array of characters from “The Lord of the Rings.” It was during Dragon Con in Atlanta, before the convention had matured to quite the level it has now. Groups of costumers were less frequent and large numbers of themed costumes were rare. There, in that spot, was organized and gathered an outstanding display of fans, living their passions and forming a genuine fellowship. It was a very fine cosplay effort but it was a transcendent community effort.

I know some readers will know the photo. I was lucky enough to snap some copies of it for various people since I wasn’t part of the costume group and I had an array of cameras handed to me and we took a lot of pictures there. It happened on the lowest deck of the Marriott hotel before the new carpet and before the hotel became the supreme showcase of fan-made costumes — perhaps anywhere.

There was Mel, surrounded by people who loved her and that she influenced for good, as they would readily tell you. Nobody was thinking about that at the time; they thought they were posing for a picture of costumes. It was actually a picture of a galvanized fan community.

It wasn’t too long after, certainly not long enough after, that it was discovered that she had ALS. It is a diabolical disease in a family of diseases that took another soul associated with the Tolkien name this year also; hopefully a reality that will change for others down the road. Mel’s path was an exit few of us would choose, but of course, she had no choice.

Mel was valiant and brave and inspirational. We haven’t any idea of the daily realities of her existence, and we know she had to have a lot of help. We can imagine it wasn’t always pretty or dignified but it was beautiful.

The fight and the struggle, the effort and the exertion against the inevitable was beautiful.

Those on the inside, struggling daily, may have missed the beauty, but those of us with a little distance could see the remarkable effort and the fight and the love and the friendship and the sleepless, tireless, constant realities of what it means to have ALS. Chris Kern, her husband is absolutely as much a part of the battle as Mel was. While completely different players in the same fight, they fought it together and won. Chris, congratulations on your shared victory, while we also mutually mourn your devastating, prolonged loss.

One of the bright spots of Mel’s disease, is we knew, she knew, Chris knew, their family knew, that she was going to be gone. Actually we know everybody will be gone, but with Mel we could see the progress of the disease so we didn’t take any moments for granted. It was a ticking clock, and while that is horrifying, there were some opportunities too.

The blessing of knowing somebody is slipping away affords us the opportunity to say things we might not say. Mel and I weren’t close friends but I held a deep affection and respect for her, as many others did, that allowed me to tell her, each time I saw her, that I loved her. Because of her situation, I had social permission to say that and I felt it and meant it and I hope she knew it. Many others did the same. I hope Chris knows it and knew it and I hope their son Mathew does too. I – we – the Tolkien Community, love you. Our deepest sympathies go to Chris and Matthew and those we don’t even know to name.

Once far from home, after a 14-hour plane ride, followed by a another plane ride, and then a rental car experience driving on the wrong side of the road, I was in the middle of a lot of beautiful scenery on the South Island of New Zealand, and then in a pub in a small town. I was there to have a meeting and I had with me a folder I had prepared with some proposals about how the fan community could work with a bunch of talented people who were busy adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” into film.

Inside that report was a copy of the picture mentioned above from Dragon Con. It was representing fandom.

My host stopped me and pointed to Mel in that picture. He wanted to know if I knew her. I explained her plight with ALS and that yes, she was a friend I knew her and that she dreamed of living to see the Hobbit films completed. My host knew her as well. I learned then, that Chris and Mel had preceded me to New Zealand and had already had their filming experience at the Hobbiton Movie Set. I was sworn to absolute secrecy, but I knew they had made a visit that even they weren’t permitted to talk about it back then. They were told to say they had been to Disneyland or something. My host didn’t know that I nearly burst into tears.

How thrilling to know that while walking the difficult path they were on, Mel and Chris got to have some amazing experiences, even if they had to keep them completely to themselves for a while. There was beauty in the sorrow and sorrow in the beauty. I don’t need to mention where that theme is reflected.

I recall too the great care and concern some actors showed to Mel behind the scenes at Dragon Con. In particular John Rhys-Davies, Sylvester McCoy and Billy Boyd, among others, handled things beautifully. I hear Martin Freeman, Peter Jackson and others did the same in New Zealand.

I know the Tolkien community mourns the loss of Mel. But because of Mel and Chris we have been able to fund raise for ALS at Dragon Con. We appealed with a Middle-earth themed ice bucket challenge and the unique and pretty awesome Chucks for Fiver campaign goes on and The Walk to Defeat ALS gets extra support. Mel’s sacrifice, Chris’ sacrifice, furthered the cause.

Because of Mel, many lives, beyond Lawrenceville, beyond her family, beyond Georgia, were impacted for the better.

Memories were cherished.
Hugs were exchanged.
Tears were shed.
Friendships were forged.

The accurate obituary should read: Melissa Theresa Petrey Kern, 42, of the Tolkien Community, died March 8, 2015, and she shall not be forgotten.

This fantastic little piece is sculpted by Gary Hunt who you will get to know better through several reviews that are coming up.

Bofur comes in with a price tag of only $65 and is in-stock shipping from the New Zealand warehouse.

]]>http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/24/97567-collecting-the-precious-bofur-the-dwarf-barrel-rider/feed/0The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies DVD/Blu-ray review – RELEASE DATE MARCH 24http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/23/97479-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-dvdblu-ray-review-release-date-march-24/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/23/97479-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-dvdblu-ray-review-release-date-march-24/#commentsMon, 23 Mar 2015 16:21:30 +0000http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=97479In the USA, from March 24th, the last in Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies will be available for you to take home. (It’s been available in digital version in many countries since March 3rd; but from Tuesday you can get your hands on a ‘hard’ copy.)

Many fans, of course, like to wait for the Extended Edition release before purchasing a copy; but speaking personally, my collection isn’t complete unless I have the theatrical cut as well. I was thrilled to get my hands on a review copy of the Blu-ray Combo pack, which includes copies of the movie on Blu-ray, on DVD and a Digital HD copy – as well as various extras.

Let’s talk first about the picture quality of the film. I watched the Blu-ray version, and marvelled again at the beauty of home video these days. Every detail of that stunning Lake-town set, and that incredible, terrifying dragon, was clear to see. (Even some of the details we perhaps don’t want to see – such as the too obviously repeated figures in the various armies – stood out!) Moments in the extras, where clips from The Lord of the Rings trilogy are juxtaposed with parts of The Hobbit films, showed just how very far home video release has come in a decade. This is a beautiful film, and well worth seeing in such gorgeous definition.

By now, though, you’ve seen the movie, and you know what parts you do or don’t like! (I’m still baffled by ‘Japanese horror movie’ Galadriel, and can’t help wondering if she’s just there by way of a ‘nose-thumbing’ to all the fans who hated ‘nuclear Galadriel’….!) Suffice to say, the film looks stunning and has all the ups and downs it had on the big screen. Let’s move on to talk about the EXTRAS in this Combo pack.

The included special features are not extensive – there is nothing of the length and depth which we find on the Extended Edition home video releases – but they are interesting, charming and insightful; worthy ‘gems’ to be enjoyed by fans.

The disk with the movie also includes ‘New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth, Part 3′. This is an attractive vignette which stands (as Martin Freeman points out!) as a wonderful advertisement for New Zealand tourism, highlighting that amazing scenery we’ve all come to know and love.

On a separate disk, we get the further special features. ‘Recruiting the Five Armies’ is all about the hordes of extras (of the human, rather than DVD, kind!) who were such a vital part of these films. It’s a delightful behind-the-scenes look at a typical ‘day in the life’ of an extra – and of the fans who were so thrilled to have even a moment of screen time. It’s a very fun short film – and it was great to see Tami Lane, the fabulous make-up artist who joined us at The One Last Party!

Fans of Billy Boyd’s song ‘The Last Goodbye’ will be very happy; not only is the music video included in the extras, but there is also a ‘Behind the Scenes’ film about the song, which gives fascinating insight into its composition. The filmmakers were eager to have a piece which could serve as a bridge, leading us from The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but which would also be a final farewell to all six films. They knew they wanted the words of the song to be Bilbo’s voice, and they therefore wanted instrumentation which would give an appropriate Shire/celtic sound. All that having been decided, and with his singing of ‘Home is behind’ having been used in the first trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Boyd was the obvious choice to create this final ode. It’s very fun to have this behind the scenes look at the recording sessions; Boyd comments that the song is for the fans, and is a farewell to them.

‘Completing Middle-earth’ goes into interesting details about how Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens wanted to create six movies which would tell ‘one grand story’. This wasn’t, of course, the plan right from the start (back in they days when they were even thinking just two Lord of the Rings movies!) In this extra, however, they are very clear about how they wanted to weave into The Hobbit films moments which will then pay off in The Lord of the Rings. For example, in their telling of the story, they are specific that it is Sauron who instigates the Battle of the Five Armies (which of course is not true in the book); Boyens talks of turning this battle into a ‘pivotal moment’ in the entire history of Middle-earth, making it the first move in the War of the Ring.

Personally I don’t see the need to change the motivations behind the battle at the end of The Hobbit, but I do enjoy how these six films play out as a set – I can’t wait for the first occasion when I have time for a six movie marathon viewing! For me, the most enjoyable part of the extras was seeing clips from both trilogies side by side – it is a great pleasure finally to be able to see the films as a complete sextet. (It was also very fun to see TheOneRing.net popping up in the ‘Completing Middle-earth’ short – clips from TORn’s Return of the One Party were used, and in the credits TORn’s own MrCere (Larry Curtis) is listed as the photographer behind some of the stills used.)

Peter Jackson says, very specifically, that though they went there AND back again, there will not be a third time. (Of course he famously said ‘never again’ after they completed The Lord of the Rings trilogy…) This, then, seems to be the final part of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth; though we do, of course, still have the Extended Edition of this final movie to which to look forward, so it isn’t all over quite yet.

In the meantime, in one of the special features, Ian McKellen says, ‘That was a journey worth going on.’ If, like me, you like to treasure every little part of that journey, then this The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies home video release is an absolute must-have.

UPDATE: WB sent us this EXCLUSIVE infographic – just in case you need a quick refresher on parts one and two before you sit down to watch your DVD or Blu-ray of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies:

]]>http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/23/97479-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-dvdblu-ray-review-release-date-march-24/feed/0Middle-earth March Madness – Round 2! Vote Now!http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/22/97525-middle-earth-march-madness-round-2-vote-now/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/22/97525-middle-earth-march-madness-round-2-vote-now/#commentsSun, 22 Mar 2015 12:48:04 +0000http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=97525Round 1 is in the history books, as Middle-earth March Madness continues to capture the attention of Tolkien fans worldwide! In our first round, we had over 190,000 total votes cast, with the most contentious match-ups recieving nearly 10,000 votes! Voting for Round 2 starts now! (Vote below).

Round 1 didn’t have many close match-ups, but there were definitely a few surprises.

The most contraversial seems to be (11) Thranduil taking down (6) Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit division. As the 2014 Middle-earth March Madness champion, Thranduil seems to have a dedicated and loyal following that should help him through his next match-up with (3) Beorn. (Or will fan backlash against those Thranduites push Beorn through?!)

In The Lord of the RIngs division, (8) Arwen was able to take down The Dark Lord himself, (9) Sauron. Will she make it past (1) Galadriel to possible match-up against (4) Aragorn?!

In The Others division, (2) Father Christmas was knocked off by (15) Legolas of Gondolin, obviously taking advantage of the name recognition of another famous Elf.

There are a lot of intriguing match-ups in round 2, which I’m sure some TORn staffer will highlight in an article this week. Maybe you want to highlight your favorite match-ups in this round? Submit an article to spymaster@theonering.net with your display name and a small bio, and we’ll see if we can post it!

]]>http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/22/97525-middle-earth-march-madness-round-2-vote-now/feed/0Listen to Armies, Dragons and Rings, a piece created for The Battle of the Five Armies marketing campaignhttp://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/22/97517-listen-to-armies-dragons-and-rings-a-piece-created-for-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-marketing-campaign/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/22/97517-listen-to-armies-dragons-and-rings-a-piece-created-for-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-marketing-campaign/#commentsSun, 22 Mar 2015 11:02:15 +0000http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=97517 Blake Robinson is an Australian composer of music for film, TV and games. He writes:

Armies, Dragons and Rings was created by request, specifically for the final theatrical trailer music for The Hobbit 3. It heavily features [Howard Shore’s] “The Ring” theme in a new context.

Peter Jackson had a few final theatrical trailers created, and then spent some time making his decision. The trailer featuring this track was narrowly edged out. However, the music was cut and used in the international TV campaign.

Here is the track in its entirety. Hoping that other LOTR fans will enjoy hearing the old musical themes in a new light.

This is a brand new format for the competition this year – implemented to encourage interesting match-ups, intriquging final four and ultimately education on the breadth of works from our favorite author, J.R.R. Tolkien.

A note on how the bracket combatants were determined. TheOneRing.net created a document containing all combatants, sub divided into divisions. We asked staff to cast sixteen votes per division, with the votes having a weight of 1-4. Each staffer cast four 4 votes, four 3 votes, four 2 votes and four 1 votes in each division. We then totalled all the votes from each division to determine their rank, and ultimately placed those into our bracket for seeding.

As you can imagine, our staff is diverse and the results were very interesting! What was very exciting when creating the bracket was the realization that we have some amazing and story related match-ups in this first round.

Voting in Round 1 will remain open until March 21st at 10pm ET. At that point, we’ll calculate the winners and post the next round on March 22nd. Follow after the break for a complete bracket image (download it), and to vote on all of our Round 1 match-ups! [Round 1 Bracket]

Yes folks, Middle-earth March Madness is back for 2015! If you are new to TheOneRing.net, Middle-earth March Madness is our adaptation on the popular NCAA Basketball tournament that takes place every March/April in the United State. It is our chance to have some fun matching up middle-earth power players against each other. Past winners include Samwise Gamgee,Gandalf, Thranduil.

Based on feedback from our past years, we are switching things up a bit to include the entirety of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. So in reality, this could be called J.R.R. Tolkien March Madness!

This year, our four divisions will be representative of a book (or series of books):

The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion
Other Works (Lost Tales, Father Christmas, Children of Hurin, etc)

This allows each division to crown a champion for each book, and then they all face off against each other in the final four!

Our staff are sorting out the field of 64 combatants now, and we’ll be posting the first bracket and polls very soon. Stay tuned to the front-page of TORn for the announcement to start voting, and follow along on Twitter and FB with #middleearthmarchmadness @theoneringnet

]]>http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/14/97433-oh-yes-middle-earth-march-madness-is-coming/feed/0The One Last Party – more pics, Roll of Honor!http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/09/97388-the-one-last-party-more-pics-roll-of-honor-2/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/09/97388-the-one-last-party-more-pics-roll-of-honor-2/#commentsMon, 09 Mar 2015 21:02:12 +0000http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=97388More than two weeks have passed since our celebrations in Hollywood – how time flies! During those two weeks we’ve still been working hard – updating records, and making sure we know who collected their perks, and to whom we still need to send things!

All remaining perks should ship towards the end of this week; if you haven’t received something by the END OF MARCH, then please let us know!

We do hope that everyone who attended the party felt that it was ‘a night to remember’, and that folks watching the live stream at home enjoyed it, too! For all of us here at TORn, the greatest pleasure was in seeing so many happy party-goers enjoying themselves and dancing the night away. Reading your comments on the ‘Tell us what the journey has meant to you’ standee was very moving; it was a joy to celebrate, with you all, these books and films which have been, and will continue to be, a big part of our lives.

]]>http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/09/97388-the-one-last-party-more-pics-roll-of-honor-2/feed/0Vote for The Hobbit: the Battle of the Five Armies in the 2015 Empire Awards!http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/05/97380-vote-for-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-in-the-2015-empire-awards/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2015/03/05/97380-vote-for-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-in-the-2015-empire-awards/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 22:15:08 +0000http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=97380The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies has snared four nominations at the 2015 edition of The Empire Awards. Voting is open to the public now, and the winners will be announced on Sunday March 29 in London.

The awards The Hobbit has been nominated for are:

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Best Film

Best Director – Peter Jackson

Best Actor – Richard Armitage

Interesting that the Best Actor nomination is for Armitage rather than Martin Freeman.

Anyway, to vote, simply follow the link below and select your favourites in each category. Bonus: vote and you’ll be entered into Empire’s ballot to win yourself a pair of tickets to the award ceremony.